Main Draw Men's Singles Play To Begin at BNP Paribas Open

By City News Service:

INDIAN WELLS, CA- Men's main draw singles play is scheduled to begin Thursday in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden while the first round of women's singles play will conclude.

The biggest names in the men's game won't play until Saturday at the earliest as all 32 seeded players in the 96-player draw received first-round byes.

Today's men's matches feature 18-year-old Taylor Fritz facing fellow American Frances Tiafoe in the third match in Stadium 1. Fritz is the youngest player in the top 100 of the Association of Tennis Professionals rakings, ranked 80th.

Fritz became the youngest player to reach the final of an ATP tournament since 2008 when he reached the final of last month's Memphis Open, where he lost to Kei Nishikori.

Fritz is the son of former College of the Desert coach Guy Fritz and Kathy May Fritz, a former women's top 10 player.

Nighttime play will begin at 7 p.m. with Canadian Eugenia Bouchard facing Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki. Bouchard reached the Wimbledon singles finals in 2014 and rose to fifth in the Women's Tennis Association rankings.

Bouchard closed 2015 ranked 48th, playing just once after suffering a concussion in a fall in a darkened locker room at the U.S. Open. Bouchard rose to 42nd in the rankings after reaching the final of the BMW Malaysian Open, which concluded Sunday.

Juan Martin del Porto will face American qualifier Tim Smyczek in the other night singles match. The 2009 U.S. Open champion from Argentina missed most of 2015 due to a left wrist surgery and is ranked 420th. He reached the semifinals of last month's Delray Beach Open.

Today's losing players -- both men and women -- will receive $11,970, while the winners will receive at least $19,530.

Wednesday's women's results included Taylor Townsend losing 6-2, 6-3 to fellow American Vania King, 6-2, 6-3, and Santa Monica resident Nicole Gibbs defeating Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-1 6-0.

The 19-year-old Townsend had to win eight matches to reach the main draw. She received a wild card berth into the women's singles qualifying draw by winning the BNP Paribas Open Challenge, then won two matches in qualifying.

Gibbs, who also reached the main draw through qualifying, will face 23rd- seeded American Madison Keys in the second round.

The seeded players in the women's field will begin play Friday, including the Williams sisters.

Venus Williams, who is seeded 10th, will play in the tournament for the first time since 2001 during the afternoon session, facing qualifier Kurumi Nara of Japan. Serena Williams, who is seeded first, will play in the night session, facing another qualifier, Laura Siegemund of Germany.

This is the first time since 2001 both Williams sisters have played in the tournament.

Venus Williams wrote on the website The Players Tribune that she is returning to the tournament after "seeing Serena welcomed with open arms last year at Indian Wells, that I think I fully and truly realized what being the big sister means.

"It means that, for all of the things I did first, and all of the times when I paved the way for Serena, the thing I can be most proud of is this time. When Serena paved the way for me."

Serena Williams returned to the tournament last year after not playing since being relentlessly booed throughout the 2001 final. She wrote in a column published on the website Time.com that she was returning to the tournament in a spirit of "forgiveness."

The sisters were booed by fans when their 2001 semifinal match was scrubbed due to an injury suffered by Venus. After the match, another player who was asked in a news conference who would have won the match between the sisters said their father, Richard, would probably decide -- an insinuation that their matches were rigged.

"The false allegations that our matches were fixed hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply," Serena Williams wrote.

"The under-current of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. In a game I loved with all my heart, at one of my most cherished tournaments, I suddenly felt unwelcome, alone and afraid."

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